Law Schools, Minority Issues

Arizona Summit: Now Counting On Black People Not Knowing How To Use Google

Black people who have been to law school but don't pass the bar ARE STILL EXCLUDED FROM THE LEGAL INDUSTRY.

By  
on

Arizona SummitAs we mentioned in Morning Docket, legal diploma mill Arizona Summit Law School has entered into an affiliation agreement with Bethune-Cookman University, a historically black college.

This seems like a good time to mention that Bethune-Cookman is in Florida while Arizona Summit is in… Arizona. I want this point to be clear.

Bethane Cookman Arizona Summit

Officials from Bethune-Cookman and Arizona Summit say that they’ve entered into this transcontinental arrangement to further their mutual goals of increasing diversity in the legal profession. Here are some quotes:

“This enables us to take it to a much higher level sooner, swifter and with greater impact,” Arizona Summit President Donald Lively said.

Bethune-Cookman President Edison Jackson said in a statement, “Together, we aim to be a leading force in disrupting a legacy of exclusion that has persisted into the 21st century.”

With all due respect to Mr. Lively and Mr. Jackson, these quotes represent some of the dumbest takes on legal education available in the English language. NOTHING THAT THEY ARE SAYING MAKES ANY SENSE.

To Edison Jackson, I’d ask: How, how in the ACTUAL F**K, does sending students to a law school that boasts a 25% first-time bar passage rate disrupt “a legacy of exclusion that has persisted into the 21st century”? NEWS FLASH: Black people who have been to law school but don’t pass the bar ARE STILL EXCLUDED FROM THE LEGAL INDUSTRY. This is like saying that we’re going to increase diversity in the medical profession by giving every black child a free game of Operation.

Sponsored

Sorry, my analogy fails because Arizona Summit is NOT FREE. The school charges $45,424, for its for-profit education, and then there’s another $22,100 to live in Phoenix for a year.

Going to a law school like Arizona Summit doesn’t help black people, it hobbles them. Economically disadvantaged minorities are in a terrible position to shoulder the (LST-estimated) $249,469 cost of three years of attendance, only to graduate with an education that doesn’t prepare them to pass the bar and a degree that is practically worthless. I mean, my God, the Arizona Summit bar passage rate is their rate in Arizona. CAN YOU IMAGINE what the pass rate is for Arizona Summit grads who try to pass the Florida bar? Bethune-Cookman grads who go out to Arizona Summit are likely leaving behind family, friends, their entire community network (see MAP, above). THEY’LL NEVER RETURN, not as employed lawyers at least. I don’t know the employment rate for Arizona Summit grads in any Southeastern legal market, but if I put the over/under at 2%, would you really feel great about taking the over?

I’ve made this argument for years. “Poor black people need lawyers, they don’t need more poor black people who became poor by going to law school.” That was me in 2012. If you haven’t heard it before, please give this a read. PLEASE SEND IT TO EDISON JACKSON.

As for Donald Lively… “this enables us to take it to a much higher level sooner, swifter and with greater impact” sounds more like Blake Lively talking about the importance of diversity in legal education than a serious law school dean. But Arizona Summit’s so-called commitment to diversity is barely worth addressing. What really bothers me about Arizona Summit is how they’re poised to essentially blame their own students for their school’s atrocious educational offerings:

Many of the Summit’s students come to law school in a “catch-up mode,” Interim Dean Penny Willrich said in a recent interview with The Arizona Republic. Some are from poor families. They are astute, bright and want to become attorneys, she said.

“What we try to do is meet our students where they are when they come in the door,” she said.

Sponsored

I hate this patronizing, deflecting bulls**t. You are not doing students any FAVORS by admitting kids YOUR SCHOOL can’t skill-up to pass the bar.

Law school isn’t college. Law school is professional training school. I want to make this point clear, because I can feel Richard Sander “mismatch” acolytes getting a boner off my last point. There is value in college education that can’t be captured in one’s GPA. Being in a college environment can benefit people who never come close to getting their degree. I think Mark Zuckerberg has been able to pay off his college debts, even though he never graduated.

In law, the “entrance exam” into the legal profession comes at the end of the training. If you can’t pass the bar, you can’t be a lawyer. If you want to learn about the law, but don’t want to be a lawyer, you don’t need a law school, you need a library card… WHICH COSTS A LOT LESS. If Bethune-Cookman wants to give their graduates legal training that doesn’t produce practicing attorneys, they need to make an affiliation with a goddamn Westlaw rep and give their graduates a password. Arizona Summit’s PURPOSE is to take “astute” and “bright” students who “want to become attorneys,” and make that HAPPEN for them by giving them the training they need to pass the bar, and the skills they need to attract and represent clients.

If they can’t do that, all they’re doing is meeting students “where they are” and MUGGING THEM “when they come in the door.”

It would be a mistake for any Bethune-Cookman student to go to Arizona Summit for law school. For the love of Christ, if you’re that desperate for legal education, Nova Southeastern is at least in-state, and they accept applications written in crayon.

If you are a Bethune-Cookman student who is seriously considering this ridiculous “opportunity,” but have come across this article because you bothered to do a basic Google search of what you are getting into, email me: elie@abovethelaw.com. I’ll explain it to you. I will Harriet freaking Tubman you out of this trap.

It’s 2017, nobody should be falling for this crap.

P.S. If you’re in Arizona and interested in the law, come out to this event on Thursday, March 23, featuring my colleague David Lat. At $25 — which includes a drink ticket and 1.5 credits of CLE — it’s a much better deal than Arizona Summit.

Arizona Summit Law School moves to affiliate with a private, non-profit university [AZ Central]

Earlier: Law Dean Gives Worst Advice Advice To Minorities Since Someone Told Native Americans To Have A Drink

Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

Topics

, , , , , , , ,